Category Archives: Police Gangs

Prior to the 1940s, there were many Black and Latino clubs and clicks, but very few outright gangs. This was also true of the white population of Los Angeles. However, this changed in the 1940s. In the 1940s, the Black population doubled as people came to work building ships and weapons for the military during World War II. At the time, Blacks and Latinos were restricted in where they could live. Blacks had to live along Central Ave. and Latinos lived mostly in East LA. As the population increased, some whites feared that Blacks and Latinos would start living outside of these restricted areas. Huntington Park, Bell, South Gate, Inglewood, Compton, Gardena, and West LA all had organized white gangs that would seek out Blacks and Latinos and harass them or beat them up. The largest of these gangs were the Spook Hunters. “Spook” is a derogatory term used toward Black people. During the 1940s, the Ku Klux Klan also emerged in LA. The first Black and Latino gangs were in response to these white gangs. The gangs acted as protection for Black and Latino neighborhoods. Incidents such as the Zoot Suit Riots, in which white marines attacked Latino zoot suiters, led to a higher degree of organization in the gangs of both Blacks and Latinos.

Experiencing a Physical Event;​​ Drawing a picture, or modeling the event;​ Discussing and writing descriptions of the event in informal, intuitive language (People Talk); Regimenting or formalizing the language used to describe the event (Feature Talk); and Developing symbolic representations of the event.

California Assembly passed a bill that would give juvenile lifers a shot at rehabilitation.

False flag (or black flag) describes covert military or paramilitary operations designed to deceive in such a way that the operations appear as though they are being carried out by entities, groups, or nations other than those who actually planned and executed them. Operations carried out during peace-time by civilian organizations, as well as covert government agencies, may by extension be called false flag operations if they seek to hide the real organization behind an operation. Geraint Hughes uses the term to refer to those acts carried out by “military or security force personnel, which are then blamed on terrorists.”

When the news talks about gang-related deaths, they treat it as an almost exclusively Black problem. However, according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, for the period of 1980 to 2008, a majority (53.3 percent) of gang homicides were committed by White offenders, and the majority of gang homicide victims (56.5 percent) were White.

Stop and frisk

Prison Industry

A brief, non-intrusive, police stop of a suspect. The Fourth Amendment requires that the police have a reasonable suspicion that a crime has been, is being, or is about to be committed before stopping a suspect. If the police reasonably suspect the person is armed and dangerous, they may conduct a frisk, a quick pat-down of the person’s outer clothing. See Terry v Ohio, 392 US 1, (1967).

Lieutenant Gregory Thompson, who oversaw LASD’s Operation Safe Jails Program, and Lieutenant Stephen Leavins, learned that an inmate was an FBI informant and was acting as a cooperator in the FBI’s corruption and civil rights investigation.

Those allegedly involved in the obstruction scheme took affirmative steps to hide the cooperator from the FBI and the United States Marshals Service, which was attempting to bring the inmate to testify before a federal grand jury in response to an order issued by a federal judge. As part of the conspiracy, the deputies allegedly altered records to make it appear that the cooperator had been released. They then re-booked the inmate under a different name, and then told the cooperator that he had been abandoned by the FBI.

In 2010 and 2011arrested or detained five victims– including the Austrian consul general – when they arrived to visitinmates at the Men’s Central Jail (MCJ).

The pattern of activity alleged in the obstructionof justice case shows how some members of the Sheriff’s Department considered themselves to be above the law. Instead of cooperating with the federal investigation to ensure that corrupt law enforcement officers would be brought to justice, the defendants in this case are accused of taking affirmative steps designed to ensure that light would not shine on illegal conduct that violated basic constitutional rights.”

Michael Holguin, an inmate at Men’s Central Jail in 2009, says he endured an unprovoked beating at the hands of deputies.

“If I were to beat somebody like that on the street, they’d arrest me for that. But it’s OK because they’re wearing a badge,” said Holguin.

Holguin says one the deputies arrested on Monday was involved in his case.

“Justice just may prevail. If everybody has to answer to the law, why shouldn’t they?” he said.